Bio:
Morrison's first published work were Gideon Stargrave strips for Near Myths in 1978, one of the first British alternative comics. Although his work only appeared in three issues of Near Myths, he was suitably encouraged to find more comic work. This included Captain Clyde ( a Captain America type superhero based in Glasgow ) for a local newspaper, plus various issues of DC Thomson's Starblazer, a science fiction version of that company's Commando title.

Morrison spent much of the early and mid 1980s struggling to find work with a major comic publisher. However after writing The Liberators for Dez Skinn's Warrior in 1985, he started work for Marvel UK the following year. While at Marvel UK he worked on several short stories in Doctor Who Magazine as well as a Zoids strip in Spider-Man and Zoids. 1986 also saw Morrison start to write several Future Shocks ( normally short two or three page comic strips ) for 2000AD. Morrison however, wanted to write a continuing strip rather than short stories. In 1987, he got his wish when he and Steve Yeowell created Zenith, an early example of deconstructing the superhero genre..

Zenith proved to be hugely popular in 2000AD, even rivaling Judge Dredd in terms of most popular character. Morrison had been sending proposals to DC Comics for revamping various minor characters during this time. He had several proposals rejected, including one for The Phantom Stranger, but his work on Zenith got him noticed by DC Comics. They accepted his proposal for Animal Man; a little known character from DC's past whose most notable appearence was a cameo in the Crisis on Infinite Earths mini series.

Animal Man placed Morrison at the head of the so-called "British invasion" of American comics along with other writers such as Neil Gaiman, Jamie Delano and Alan Moore, who had started the "invasion" with his work on Swamp Thing. Morrison had himself a hit with Animal Man, even writing himself into the story and making an appearance in his final issue, #26. Morrison's uniquely surreal take on the superhero genre proved such a success he was also given Doom Patrol to write with #19 in 1989. Till Morrison's run, Doom Patrol had been a fairly formulaic superhero title. Morrison changed this from the start by introducing more surreal heroes and introducing concepts such as dadaism into his first several issues.

This year also saw what many critics consider still to be Morrison's finest work. Arkham Asylum (painted by Dave McKean ) was a Batman graphic novel which which was to have featured a transvestite Joker (which was later toned down by DC) as well as complex uses of symbolic writing not common in comics at the time.

The book proved financially and artistically lucrative for Morrison and cemented his reputation as a major talent in the industry.

Morrison had also been writing various other titles for DC, most notably issues 6-10 of Legends of the Dark Knight, another of DC's Batman titles.

During this time Morrison still worked for smaller publishers. Most notably writing St. Swithin's Day for British publisher Trident Comics. St. Swithin's Day proved to be controversial due to its anti Margaret Thatcher themes, it even provoked a small tabloid press fury and complaints from Tory MP's such as Teddy Taylor.

Morrison started the decade off still writing Doom Patrol for DC, as well as still writing for the 2000AD spin off title Crisis. It was in Crisis he would experience controversy again with The New Adventures of Hitler due to its use of Adolf Hitler as its lead character. He also experimented in storytelling with artist Daniel Vallely on Bible John, telling the story of the Glaswegian serial killer of the same name.

The early 1990s saw Morrison revamp another old DC character, Kid Eternity with artist Duncan Fegredo, plus he updated Dan Dare to be set in the time of Thatcherism. In 1993 Morrison and fellow Glaswegian comic writer Mark Millar were "given" 2000AD for an eight week run called The Summer Offensive. Morrison wrote Judge Dredd and co-wrote with Millar, Big Dave, a highly controversial strip which split opinion in half and helped give Morrison and Millar some brief fame outside the world of comics.

1993 also saw the start of DC Comics Vertigo imprint which saw Morrison write several titles, such as the mini series Sebastian O and the graphic novel The Mystery Play. Later Morrison would write Flex Mentallo (a Doom Patrol spin off) with artist Frank Quitely and Kill Your Boyfriend with artist Philip Bond for Vertigo. He also returned briefly to DC Universe superheroics with the critically acclaimed but short-lived Aztek, co-written with Mark Millar.

In 1996, Morrison was given the Justice League of America to revamp as a gathering of the most powerful super-heroes of the DC universe under the title JLA. This run proved to be hugely popular and returned the title back to its former best selling staus. It also proved to be influential in creating the type of "widescreen" superhero action later seen in titles such as Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch's The Authority. He also handled DC's crossover event of 1998. DC One Million was a four issue mini series (with multiple crossovers) as well as several issues of The Flash with Mark Millar.

However, it was with The Invisibles, a work in three volumes, that Morrison would start his largest and possibly most important work. The Invisibles combined political, pop- and sub- cultural references, as well as being influenced by the writings of Timothy Leary, chaos magic and tapping into pre-millennial tension. The title was not a huge commercial hit to start with. The first issues were critically acclaimed but many readers found them too confusing or not action packed enough. The title was cancelled and relaunched as volume two which featured more action but still maintained the ideas and themes Morrison wished to put over to his readers. Volume three appeared in the form of a countdown to the new millennium during 1999. However due to the title shipping late its final issue did not ship until April 2000. The Invisibles proved to be a huge influence upon the counterculture, as well as being said to have influenced The Matrix. Morrison has also claimed in a speech at DisinfoCon in 1999, that much of the content in The Invisibles was information given to him by aliens that abducted him in Katmandu. He was alleged to have been told by these aliens to spread this information to the world via a comic book. He has since characterized the "Alien Abduction Experience in Katmandu" as more of an experience to which he has assigned that label/name. He believes that the experience itself actually had nothing to do with Aliens, or Abduction.

n 2000 the graphic novel JLA:Earth 2 was released with art by Frank Quitely and it proved to be a huge success. It was Morrison's last mainstream work for DC for a while, as he moved to Marvel Comics and in particular, take over writing New X-Men with Quitely providing art. Morrison again revamped a major superhero team and again it proved to be a huge critical and fan success. Morrison's run brought much needed new ideas to the title which had been the hope of editor-in-chief Joe Quesada when he brought Morrison to Marvel.

Morrison had one more project for Vertigo during this time, which was The Filth drawn by Chris Weston and Gary Erskine. The Filth actually started out as a Nick Fury proposal for Marvel which had been turned down. Morrison adapted it into a 13 part miniseries and it is said to be heavily influenced by Chris Morris's Blue Jam radio series.

Morrison also wrote the six part Marvel Boy series as well as Fantastic Four 1234, his own take on another major superhero team. Morrison proved a huge success in helping Marvel change its image and reputation but after finishing his New X-Men, he again returned to DC Comics to work on several titles and help revamp the DC Universe.

Starting in 2004, three different miniseries were released. Seaguy, We3 and Vimanarama - involve respectively a picaresque hero in a post-utopian world that doesn't need him; cyber-enhanced pets running from their captors in what Morrison calls his "western manga"; and ancient Hindu/Pakistani myths translated into Jack Kirby-style adventures. All were published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, with different levels of critical and fan success. However We3 has come in for particular praise for its bold storytelling techniques and artwork by Frank Quitely. Morrison also returned to the JLA with the first story in a new anthology series JLA: Classified, tales set within the JLA mythos by various creative teams.

In 2005 DC Comics started publishing what was dubbed the first ever "megaseries". The Grant Morrison-scripted Seven Soldiers of Victory is a reboot of an old DC Comics staple. Morrison's Seven Soldiers feature new/updated versions of old characters Guardian, Mister Miracle, Klarion the Witch Boy, Bulleteer, Spawn of Frankenstein, Zatanna and Shining Knight. The megaseries consists of seven interlinked four-issue miniseries with two "bookend" (introductory and conclusive) volumes - thirty issues in all.

In the process of selling his Seven Soldiers of Victory project to DC, Morrison presented a series of ideas for revamped characters, any of which would have worked in the context of the fictional DC Universe as a living entity (a concept he has been proposing, based on the concept of Hypertime introduced during the The Kingdom ). Dan DiDio (current vice president, editorial of DC Comics), was impressed with his idea, giving him the unofficial title of "rewrite guy", and has asked him to assist in sorting out the DC Universe in the wake of the Infinite Crisis.

In November 2005 DC started publishing a new Superman maxi-series by Morrison and Frank Quitely. Called All Star Superman, the series will not so much revamp or reboot Superman, but present an out-of-continuity "iconic" Superman for new readers.

Morrison and Quitely have also worked upon the popstar Robbie Williams album Intensive Care, providing designs for the packaging and cover of the CD.

Date of Birth: January 31, 1960Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

Notes:Grant Morrison first appeared as a comics character with a cameo in Animal Man #14. He made a full appearance at the end of issue #25, and spent most of #26 in a lengthy conversation with the comic's title character. Shortly afterwards, a character called "The Writer" appeared in an issue of the DC Comics title Suicide Squad (not written by Morrison) protesting that other 'writers' had taken control of his fate now he was part of 'the continuity'. The character was killed shortly afterwards. He has also appeared in an issue of Simpsons Comics where he is seen fighting with Mark Millar over the X-Men titles (ironically, none of his not-so-ordinary work such as Animal Man or Mystery Play are mentioned).